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L. D. HOPFIELD.

DREDGE BUCKET LIP.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-20. ma.

1,3 10,570. Patented J nly 22, 1919,

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS D. HOPFIELD, OF NA'I'OMA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF '10 GEORGE E.

SIIBBETT, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

DREIDGE-IBUGKET LIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 22, 1919.

Application filed August 20, 1918. Serial No. 250,760.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS D. Horrmnn, citizen of the United States, residing at Natoma, in the county of Sacramento, State of California, have invented a new and useful Dredge-Bucket Lip, of which the following is a specification in such full and clear terms as will enable those skilled in the art to construct and use the same.

This invention relates to the cutting lip of a dredge bucket, and its object is to produce a dredge bucket lip which will have the greatest possible strength and wearing qualities consistent with the object to be attained, and which will protect the bucket both on the inside and on the outside thereof.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that in construction of dredge buckets of the endless elevator type used for gravel mining in which the buckets have a capacity from a few cubic feet up to a yard or two that the tremendous weight of the chain of buckets is carried by the cutting edge of the lip on the top or front of the bucket. This weight is so great that the tendency is to push the lip in at the center and spread its outer ends, the lip itself being somewhat horse shoe shaped. In this invention, therefore, the lip is connected with the bucket edge by means of a flange which lies outside the bucket for a portion of the length of the lip, and which lies inside the bucket at the ends of the lip, the flange being extended for a considerable distance to take up the wear on the inside of the bucket as the material is pushed thereinto, the bucket being so shaped as to avoid the wear on the outside as far as possible.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings in which the same reference numeral is applied to the same portion throughout, but I am aware that there may be modifications thereof.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the bucket looking into the bucket mouth,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the bucket in the plane of its line of travel,

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the lip looking in the reverse direction from Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a view of the lip looking in the direction of the arrow 4 on Fig. 3.

The numeral 1 indicates the bucket proper, which has two heavy journal bearings 2 and 3 on one end, and a complementary journal bearing 4 at the other end, which fits between two journal bearings on the adjacent bucket similar to the bearin s 2 and 3, and which is connected thereto y means of a suitable pivot pin.

The buckets may be shaped in any desired manner, but preferably as appears in Fig. 1 from the top, and it is provided with a flanged cutting lip 5 having something of a horse shoe shape with a flange 6 which extends over the outer edge of the bucket, and is suitably connected therewith by means of rivets 7. The ends of the cutting lip are provided with two flanges 8 and 9, which flanges extend within the bucket, as indicated at 8 and 9 in Figs. 1 and 2, and said inner flanges are also connected with the bucket by means of rivets 10.

It will be observed that as the bucket travels in the plane of section Fig. 2, the

material moves thereinto in the line of the two dotted arrows on Fig. 2, so that said material strikes the cutting lip flanges 8 and 9 before it can strike the sides of the bucket, and therefore the wear is more on the lip flanges than upon the bucket itself.

Th weight of the bucket bearing upon the bottom portion of the lip tends to push it upwardly, and, as the ends tend to spread, the flanges 8 and 9 press against the bucket and hence do not tend to loosen the rivets holding them.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows, express reservation being made of permissible modifications:

1. A dredge bucket lip having three flanges for attaching the 11p to the dredge bucket, two of said flanges being at the edges of the ends of the lip and attached to the sides of the bucket Within the same, and the other flange being at the center of the lip and outside the bucket.

2. A curved dredge bucket 1i having three flanges fdr attaching it to t e dredge bucket, two of said flanges being at the ends of the lip and within the bucket, and the other flange being at the center Of the lip and outside the bucket.

A cutting lip for dredge buckets having a flange outside the bucket and other flanges on the sides and ends of the lip inside the bucket, the lip being I'i idly secured to the :Enbnt and sides of sa d bucket by bolts or rivets,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 22 da of June, A. D. 1918.

LE IS D. HOPFIELD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for we eat; eecl i, b'y addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

